( All photos on the blog are mine unless otherwise noted )
This will be my tree this year, an oak tree seen from where I live.
I will post photos as it goes through the seasons, as will I for 2012.
As I enter the process of living and dying,
and then repeating the cycle all through this existence,
this year I will be mindful of what God puts in front of me as a reminder
to not forget where I have come from, and where I am going Home to.
Do I write poems or simply receive them? The later, to be sure, is the only way unforced creativity can operate. If our creativity is linked to God's Creative Flow, and we can get on that ever present energy, then our hands and voices will have the words, and notes of song, that the Lover Of Creativity wants to bring to life along with our cooperation.
We can unfortunately corrupt and even halt the Flow that wants to come through us - God's Desire to be seen by what we create, music, painting, poetry, a helping hand to someone in need, a place of safety for all who come to us in any capacity needing what we can offer. Yet, if ego and self-will is allowed to block that which is rising from heart and soul, our ability to be useful to ourselves and others cannot find the vehicle for becoming known.
I know that I do not create in a vacuum, nor am I a robot only saying what I am told to say. God does not operate that way as my preferences for meaning play a role as I exercise hard-won viewpoints for format, and to find a canvas for expression from my heart's desire to bring forth beauty. For me my poems seem to express themselves best in something akin to the structure that so many of my mentor Jalliudin Rumi's magnificent offerings have - four lines per stanza. This offers me an extraordinary means of expression around the spiritual themes of my life - dying to self so that new life can be brought into existence, along with love and separation which comes from all my heart and soul long for.
Letting space exist between my words and Love's Words rising is key to my creative process. It is the action of entering that space and allowing what is being formulated to see the light of day. (Or at the light reflecting from the blue-black ink set to paper by pen.) To do this I must continually work to honor the spaces within where I can meet God's Presence, and God's desire to use me somehow as an instrument for purposes not necessarily my own. My role is to allow these small poems and photographs a means of being seen, and in their own very small way be a voice to tell of the immense Love in this heart, and to proclaim that all Creative Love lives in every heart.
A poem -
- First Thoughts -
To see one’s soul is to see God.
If the question is, “How do I get there?”
Do not bother to read on my brothers and sisters.
The invitation came, as usual, with no warning,
Our Lover, when delivering another kiss, never asks first.
Led quietly to a room deep in the back of my heart,
I saw the door, half off its hinges, old and unused –
Stepping across its threshold I entered the realm of my soul.
The rest, save the ending, I cannot tell as words are useless.
There, touching God’s muted form … touching God ….
I held, in this hand, a piece of All Creation.
From here, the Journey goes forward one more step,
No more, no less.
Bill Lagerstrom, 2012
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In Spring the passion that is in everything yearning to grow and live,
can be seen if we look carefully enough with heart's eyes.
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Last week I offered a video by "Hillsong: and a suggestion to watch and enter into Christian prayer perhaps as you might not have ever experienced it. If you did not view it here is the link:
This week I offer another equally powerful prayer by Abida Parveen who is Pakastan's most prominent and loved singer of Ghazels - love songs to God. It is ten minutes long and I only ask that you allow yourself to enter into it in its entirety. We are called to a love affair with God and it may seem strange to talk with God in this way but please know that this form of song has been around in the world's Islamic communities for almost thirteen hundred years. Here is the link and be sure to turn on the English translation which is in the red "CC" box on the bottom right:
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Another poem -
- Heart Opener - ( 2 Kings 2:11 )
In an instant, a flash of lightning broke open this heart,
The chariots and horses of fire arrived !
The shattering of these walls was painless,
Reducing to dust all the stone walls built to keep God out.
The Storm that caused this devastation,
Raged not outside, but within this badly defended heart;
A small crack in the mortar and Love’s sword swung –
Releasing the awesome power that is God’s First Kiss ….
That moment, I fell into Love’s embrace.
How many Angels are on the well honed the edges
Of that mighty weapon ?
Do all the Saints of Heaven arrive
As Grace and miracle open a hardened heart ?
Yet, Your Gift of this wound that will never heal
Is not without pain – as my longing aches for more of Your Presence –
More of the Love Affair I have been Called to embrace.
This is as Relationship must be – God’s decision, my choice.
Rebuilding is out of the question,
The stones of defense have gone stupid –
They have forgotten how to build the old structures.
The plans, the blue prints, destroyed in the carnage.
A songbird sits on a broken wall,
Singing Spirit’s message of freedom
From self-imposed bondage to the old ways,
As I too take flight in a landscape that is no longer mystery.
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Several weeks ago Lee and I were in NYC for Bridget's wedding and we stopped by St. Francis Xavier church which was our home for almost twenty years. Since we talk a great deal about our ministry there I thought it would be nice to show a picture I took. When we were there the church had not been cleaned for almost 100 years - that changed after we moved to Maine and this is the result. The church brought back many wonderful nostalgic memories for the two of us as it was where a great deal of spiritual healing and experience took place, especially the ten years of being part of the Xavier Company Healing Ministry as a prayer and anointing team.
For our ministry, Lazarus Ministries, the groups we facilitated all those years took place in the former Grade School building two blocks from the church in a space we utilized every Monday night, a great number of Saturdays for workshops, and where we grew spiritually in the "work" God calls us to do.
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And a cartoon:
(A lesson in mindfulness?)
Until next week, Peace, Bill Lagerstrom
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